Volume 1 Number 3
May 1962

Hildegard Thompson

Chief, Branch of Education

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC

(An address delivered to the second annual Navaho Youth Conference,

December, 1961, at Shiprock, New Mexico)

A great honor was bestowed on you delegates when you were chosen to come to this conference as representatives of your schools. I am sure that you considered it a great privilege to come here for these activities.

I, too, feel honored to be invited to this conference to participate with you in these activities and to speak to you tonight.

A youth conference—such as this one we are enjoying together—is a great educational experience. Here we enjoy the opportunity to explore each other's minds; to exchange ideas about problems that we feel are important in our lives; and to help one another formulate new ideas that we will take away with us when we leave. And the more ideas we take away, the richer we shall be.

My topic tonight, as you know from your program, is "You and Your Future." I shall deal with that topic in two parts, first YOU and second, YOUR FUTURE.

And what are you like—I don't know exactly what you are like. I can look at you, and I can tell how you appear. You are neat and well groomed; you are pleasant and jolly; you interest me.

The kind of appearance one has is important. It leaves others with either a good impression of us or a not-so-good impression of us. May I compliment each of you on your appearance.

I have not known any of you very long. I have been talking with you and listening to you talk with others. And as we talk together, we begin to learn more about how we each think. I learn more about how you think and you learn more about the way I think. I learn more about your point of view, and you learn more about my point of view on the topics we discuss.

The longer we know each other and talk with each other—the deeper will become our understanding of each other and how we think. BUT I doubt if I shall ever know exactly how you think OR if you will know exactly how I think—BECAUSE your thinking has been influenced by all the people you have known: your parents, your grandparents, your relatives, friends, and associates—by the books you have read, and the experiences you have had.

I can never know exactly how you think because I don't know all your friends and associates; I haven't read the same books you have read. I haven't had the same experiences you have had.

I cannot know exactly how you think. I will only know that part of your thinking which you reveal to me. Only you know the fullness of your thinking—but the more I am able to know you, the more I will know how you think, and why you think the way you do—and the better will be the opportunity to understand you, and you to understand me. The understanding of one another is important in our lives and in our world. I am sure you were selected as a delegate for this conference because you are a person who can think and a person with empathy.

I don't know how you feel, but the way you feel is also important. The way you feel influences the way you think.

We show our feelings in many ways-in our conversation, in gestures, in laughter, in tears, in anger, in silence, in service to others, in our generosity or our selfishness. We reveal how we feel through our words and actions. The way we feel toward ourselves and others is important because our feelings help to shape the person we are and the person we are becoming. Your feelings help to shape the person that is distinctly YOU.

I don't know what your habits are. Are you kind, considerate, respectful of others, honest, diligent, prudent, trustworthy? Such characteristics—if practiced—become a part of you. They determine to a large degree what is known as our character. And character is important.

I have talked about only a few things that describe the person you are and the person you are striving to become.

extremely important in determining the person you are learning to be—and WHAT you learn and how you learn today will determine your ability to lead tomorrow.

I started by saying you are wonderful because no other person is exactly like you. Now let's go to the second topic, YOUR FUTURE In talking about your future. I shall use the same adjective—wonderful. Your future can be wonderful. Never in the history of the Indian people has any individual had better opportunities than you have today.

First, you have an opportunity for an education—not only an elementary education, but a high school education, and an education beyond high school—as far beyond high school as your abilities and your willingness to apply yourselves will take you.

There are doors open to you that never were open to your parents and grandparents.

Your parents and the majority of the Indian adults today are behind you. They want you to get an education. Your people realize your life will be different, and most of them understand why you must get an education and why you must live a life different than their lives have been.

Schools are available today that were not available to your parents. You are fortunate because the future you face holds secrets about which we now can only dream.

In your lifetime you have already seen things happen—the discovery of polio vaccine, a man orbit the earth, a rocket to the moon, machines that do the work of human hands, jets that speed us through the skies.

You have seen roads, and power lines, and mills, and great dams built on your own reservations. You have seen wagons largely replaced by cars and trucks.

You have seen oil wells, and pipelines, and uranium mines developed. You have seen motels, and parks, and community buildings spring up on many reservations.

Perhaps they will see the use of solar energy to give power for manufacturing—on they may see the deserts bloom from desalted sea water piped from the Pacific Ocean

With an education you can help to make such dreams come true. Without an education you will not have the skills and knowledge that will be needed to dream to create, or to do the level of work required in the wonderful future.

The uneducated will be left behind, while others move on to a good life for themselves and their children.

An education will open doors to all the professions—the doors to all the technical occupations—the door to all of the skilled trades—the doors to the arts

Without an education only doors to laboring jobs will be opened to you and the laboring jobs are growing fewer each year, because machines are taking over the work formerly performed by human hands. Today it is estimated that approximately 7 percent of our population are out of work. Among Indians the percentage is higher. Why—because there are not enough jobs? No—there are jobs—We do not have enough teachers, enough doctors, enough nurses, enough engineers, enough managers of industry, enough good artists, enough good musicians.

Each year doctors and nurses and teachers and engineers come to your reservation to serve you and your people. Why? Because there are too few of your people with sufficient education to qualify for all of these jobs. Think of all the opportunities in these fields right here in the Southwest. And the same holds true throughout the country.

And within your reach are the opportunities for the kind of education you need to realize your dreams—and to become the leaders of tomorrow.

I have been talking about the opportunities you have for an education to prepare you for the future. May I pause to point out possible dangers of an education? As you become educated, you may grow farther away from your parents and the older Indian people. You will learn things your parents and grandparents cannot understand. Not because you are smarter than they are—but because you have greater opportunities than they had. Even though you learn things your parents cannot understand, I know you will maintain the deep respect you owe them—and respect for your Indian way of life.

The older people have profound wisdom and judgment. They are wise and gentle and kind. You can emulate them in these characteristics because wisdom and judgment and kindness and gentleness have made people great in the past and today-and they will be required in the future.

There are also other values of your Indian life that should never be lost—respect for authority, respect for elders, generosity, patience, honesty, truthfulness, deep regard for the spiritual side of life, strong family ties. These are values that are enduring. They will be just as good tomorrow as they were yesterday—if properly adjusted to the conditions of the future.

Therefore, I caution you, don't foolishly let education undermine the love you have for family. Don't let education develop in that inner-self feelings of antagonism and shame for your culture. Rather, let it strengthen and deepen the understanding and respect you have for your people and your way of life. Let it deepen your pride in your culture.

If you let education serve you-to develop your mind—to deepen your feelings of respect for your culture and—to strengthen your pride in being an American, an Indian, and an individual of worth-you will truly be an educated person. You will be the great leaders of tomorrow you now aspire to be—your future will be wonderful.